Once upon a time, a little girl fell down a rabbit hole and her curiosity overflowed as she explored her new surroundings. The residents discovered the effects she had on their world and were amazed that she didn’t need to actually do anything to have an effect. Thus, the tradition to search for the world’s new heart began. And they sealed their fate.

Chapter 1

“This world is mine! I control everything!” cackled the Twisted Heart as a boy ran through the now deadly forest. His long black hair was tugged at by every tree he passed until one tree lifted him altogether. He screamed with what little energy he had left, but it seemed to suffice because he was promptly dropped afterward. He cried out in pain as he held his now bloody leg. As his tears hit the ground he whispered in a weak voice “A-alice… come back… I… I… I don’t want to die!”

Alice shot up from her bed in a cold sweat. She moved her long blonde hair away from her face as she panted and whispered “d-die…? Hatter…” Alice hadn’t visited Wonderland in three years, the only thing from Wonderland she didn’t lose were her dreams of the Mad Hatter. He would always visit her when she slept and they would inform eachother of new things in their lives. But lately he’s disappeared and has been replaced with nightmarish visions of a warped Wonderland.

“Auntie Alice! Mama says ‘wake up you lazy bum! And go get rid of that stupid rabbit in the backyard!’ ok Auntie Alice?” Alice sighed and said “yeah… Tell Mama I’ll be down in a minute, ok Mary?” The small red head nodded and skipped out of the room. Alice got dressed and said to herself “Wonderland? Haha! Maybe… and maybe I’ll stay this time”

Alice was 19 years old and lived in a large cottage with her sister Ann, her husband David, the twins Alex & Fredrick, the other twins Rachael & William, and little May. Alice was still single with no boyfriend and no intent of ever finding one.

Alice wore a blue track suit and had her hair in a ponytail. Her sister sighed and yelled over the shouting of the children “Hey sis! Can you go get that rabbit in the backyard?!”“Where did you see it?!”“By the river!”“Where?!”“The river!”“Alright!” Alice headed outside to the river. This is where it happened… I found Wonderland… or should I say Wonderland found me? Haha Alice thought to herself as she stared longingly at the river.

“Psssssst! Alice, look over here!” Alice turned around to see a familiar face. She shouted with joy “Mr. Rabbit! How are you? Where’s your coat? Did you lose it? H-how’s Wonderland? T-the Mad Ha--” The White Rabbit cut her off with a stern “Hush and follow me… Wonderland needs your assistance” Alice was dragged off by the White Rabbit. He checked to make sure no one was around before jumping down the rabbit hole, still holding Alice’s hand. Alice looked over at the rabbit and asked “what’s wrong?” he sighed heavily and said “you will see… you will see…”

Suddenly, the White Rabbit began to transform into a man. A human man, but his ears were still that of a rabbit and he still had his tail. Alice screamed at the sight of the naked man. The rabbit turned to Alice and said calmly “calm down… a lot has changed since you last saw wonderland… I hid some clothes at the bottom so you do not need to scream” Alice freaked “alright first of all: just look at yourself, your naked! Secondly: why did you hide clothes at the bottom of the hole? Thirdly: turn the other way! You may not be human but you’ve got human… parts so turn around!” he was confused but the rabbit turned to the wall.

Alice felt a blush creep onto her cheeks as she watched the rabbit's ghostly white hair move about in the wind generated by the long fall. Finally the fall ended, but not like three years ago. This time they fell onto cold cracked concrete. The White Rabbit swiftly grabbed a sword from one of the dusty shelves as well as some clothes. Alice gasped as she stared at the hanging skeletons on every wall. The White Rabbit got dressed and said "those are the bodies of members from the rebellion that were caught be the Twisted Heart..." his eyes narrowed as he hissed that name. The Twisted Heart.

Alice turned to face The White Rabbit and nearly gave herself a nose bleed when she saw him but she turned in time to avoid it. The White Rabbit wore a torn black tank top, leather bell bottom pants and steel-toed boots. The White Rabbit placed his hand on her shoulder and asked “are you alright?”“Y-yeah! I… uuh… got distracted!”“Hmm? Well, we better go before he sees us”“He? Who’s ‘he’?”“Do you remember the glass table?”“Y-yeah”“Well now it’s a glass dragon”“Wh-what?! You can’t be serious!”The White Rabbit hung his head and said “this is the new Wonderland… I-I…” he covered his grey teary eyes with one hand and continued in a cracking voice “I’m sorry…” Alice walked over to him and hugged him saying “crying won’t do anything. Let’s do what we can to regain the sweet Wonderland we know, ok...?” when the White Rabbit’s silence continued Alice thought and said “I know! William!” he let his hand drop and asked in an uncaring tone “William? Who is that?” she smiled and replied “that’s a name I’m considering for when I have a child. I think of you and all of Wonderland to be my family… but I guess you don’t like it so I--” the White Rabbit grabbed Alice’s shoulders and said “n-no! I love that name! P-please, call me William!” Alice giggled when she saw the deep red blush creep onto William’s face. He realized this and walked up ahead saying “w-we must hurry”

Alice quickly caught up with William and froze as she was captivated by the Glass Dragon’s sad eyes. “Captain!” a voice called from what seemed to be nowhere. Alice snapped out of her trance and screamed when she saw the Glass Dragon’s jaw open so close to her face. The Glass Dragon reared back and began to crack. The voice called out “Alice, scream! As loud as you can!” Alice was so scared, but she trusted the familiar voice and screamed once more.

The Glass Dragon shattered and shards of glass went flying at Alice. She braced herself but there was no pain, no death! When she opened her eyes she saw a man shielding her with his body. This new man had short eggplant purple hair that looked like it had never seen a brush, no shirt or shoes, ripped jean shorts, cat ears and tail of the same color as his hair. Alice spoke in a shaking voice “Ch-cheshire… cat?” the man turned around, calmly pulling large glass shards out of his pale skin, and said “nope… it’s just Cheshire now. You ok Allie?” he lightly ruffled Alice’s hair; he was much taller than Alice. “Allie?” she asked. Her jaw dropped as she watched Cheshire’s gapping injuries close almost instantly“Yeah! I always give friends nicknames! Oh, but i-if you don’t like it… it was dumb I’m sorry”“No no! Call me Allie if you like…”“Ok! Haha! Ok, you can’t say ‘no’ now!”“Haha! Ok!”"Allie... I really missed you!""I missed you too Cheshire"The childish smile on Cheshire reminded Alice of her niece. Cheshire suddenly jumped and said “ah! I almost forgot to save captain!” he ran over to the frozen William and yelled in his ear “YO!! CAPTAIN!!” William yelled in pain and fell back saying “speaking in my ear would have sufficed!” Cheshire ignored his fallen friend and was over by Alice with his tail around her waist. “Hey! I was talking to you!” William barked as he tore Cheshire’s tail off of Alice, but Alice just laughed and said “aren’t we in a hurry?” and she headed down the long hall. The two men looked at eachother and then dashed after Alice yelling “wait up!”

Meanwhile, deep in the Dead Wood, a silver-haired man in clothes resembling those of a Ring leader at a circus in dark colors wandered. He wore a black top hat, a blood red tailed coat, a white dress shirt, black dress pants, black boots, and a bell on a string around his neck. In the darkness of the twilight dusk he cackled as he whispered to himself “I don’t want to die… Alice… I don’t want to die…” he turned around with his rapier drawn. The man frowned and hissed “you must be Tweedle-Dum for a reason… what do you want and no you can’t have it” the boy lazily moved the rapier away and ruffled his short black hair saying “I come with word from the Queen. She says,” Suddenly Tweedle-Dum’s voice changed to a little girl’s voice “remember, my toy, you can’t run from me. You don’t want me to speed up your infection, do you? Mad Hatter?” the Mad Hatter fell to his knees, holding his throat and coughing. He managed to say “I-I… understand… let me go… please” Tweedle-Dum snapped his fingers and dusted off his torn school uniform saying “ok, your assignment will be a snap! Just kill some rebels! They’re headed this way, so you don’t need to do any tracking!” Tweedle-Dum then disappeared leaving the Mad Hatter in a shivering heap. He whimpered “I want to die… Alice… I don’t want to kill… I’m so tired… so tired of the pain…”

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Chester come to school and said,"Durn, I growed another head."Teacher said, "It's time you knowedThe word is 'grew' instead of 'growed.'"

Cheshire ran up ahead saying “I hear somebody calling me!” Alice tried to run after him but William stopped her and said “his ears play tricks on him… this is where he was forced to watch his twin brother die…” Alice gasped “what?! Identical twin or--” William sighed and said sadly “identical… the Twisted Heart herself killed him… we’ve asked him who the Twisted Heart really was but… he would start crying ‘I wanna see Alice… she’d know what to do…’” Alice hung her head saying “watching your identical twin die… it’s like watching yourself die, only much worse…” William lifted her head saying “hey, at least you got him to smile… he hasn’t done that since you left…”“Really? Is that true?”“Look around you! Can you really blame him?”“I guess not…”“Come, we are headed for the Dead Wood. The March Hare is waiting for us there”“What about Cheshire?”“He’ll just disappear if we chase him. It’s best we leave him, he’ll return on his own ok?”“Ok”And with that, they left for the Dead Wood. When the two reached their destination they saw a man in a brown suit. The man had long brown hair, kept in a ponytail while his bangs were ruffled and messy, and like William he too had the ears of a hare. William waved to the man and called out “March Hare!” the March Hare called back “hey! Where have you been?” when the two caught up to him William cleared his throat and motioned toward Alice. The March Hare looked at Alice and couldn’t believe his eyes “A-alice…? No… impossible…” he laughed and hugged Alice saying “you couldn’t possibly be my little Alice! She’s only 16 years old!” Alice chuckled and replied “I grew up! S-so… is this…” she swallowed hard and continued “t-the Dead Wood…?” the March Hare nodded saying “yep… the Dead Wood… home of the Mad Ha--” Alice cut in, her voice full of fear “t-the Mad Hatter?! In there?! I-is he ok?!” the March Hare looked like he was about to breakdown into tears. William spoke in such a sad voice and said “the Mad Hatter… turned on us… He was the one who killed all those people you saw hang on the hallway walls! He was the one who restrained Cheshire and forced him to watch his brother die! He was the one who murdered the Dormouse!” Alice fell to her knees. She couldn’t believe it. Her best friend... a murderer?“I’m sorry…. I just…. He was my friend….” William muttered. Alice got to her feet and said “I… I must see him…” William’s eyes widened as he exclaimed “what?!”“I must know why…”“B-but… he’s likely to just kill you as soon as he sees you!”“I… don’t believe that…”“I’ve told you what he has done and yet… you still believe in him?”“Of course… he must have his reasons”“And if you don’t find out his reasons?”“Then I get what I deserve for letting this happen to such kind people”“Alice…” William couldn’t say anymore, but he smiled gently and followed Alice into the Dead Wood along with the silent March Hare. They followed a winding path, William was in lead followed by Alice then the March Hare, but then the March Hare stopped suddenly and looked up at the trees. “D-did you guys hear that…? That chiming of a bell…?” William stopped for a moment and listened. His eyes went wide as he yelled “you two, get down!” the March Hare took Alice by the hand and they both knelt behind William as he prepared for battle. Alice turned to the March Hare and asked “wh-what on earth…?” suddenly, the chiming stopped.

The eerie silence chilled Alice to the bone. But then the Mad Hatter emerged from a tree top and forced William against a tree, putting his hands above his head. The Mad Hatter pulled a knife from his coat. He slid the knife over William’s chest, leaving a bloody trail all the way to his cheek and pierced William’s hands, pinning him to the tree. The Mad Hatter turned, ignoring William’s cries of pain, and walked over to Alice and the March Hare. The March Hare stood up and tried to stop the Mad Hatter from getting any closer but the Mad Hatter lifted him by his neck and choked him until he fell unconscious. Alice whimpered as the terrifying figure approached her, carelessly tossing the March Hare aside. William yelled “don’t you lay a finger on her!” She looked up and let her guard down as she starred at the familiar green eye of her attacker.

Suddenly, she found herself on her back. The Mad Hatter had saddled her and was strangling her. Alice reached up with one hand and moved his silver bangs away from his face. A grave look fell upon her face as she struggled to ask “wh-what… happened to… y-your eye? It looks s-so… painful” Alice was crying as her hand fell upon the Mad Hatter’s pale cheek. Her gaze was fixed on his right eye; this eye seemed pure red from afar but if looked at closely one could see a severely dilated pupil shaking violently in the center of his eye. He jumped back, causing his hat to fall off, and leaned his back against a nearby tree as he stared at Alice in shock. He placed a hand on the cheek Alice was touching as if he were just hit. Alice coughed and got to her feet. He finally spoke in a frightened voice “A-alice…? Why…?” he wrapped one arm around his stomach and one over his head as he yelled “Why mistress?! I obeyed every order you gave me! Why are you torturing me?!”

Alice moved toward the shivering man but he yelled “stay away from me! Leave me alone! I hate you!” Alice continued to walk and stopped one step away. She watched the Mad Hatter as he shivered and quietly whimpered. His eyes were shut tight and his head faced the ground. Alice knelt by him, held the hand that was around his stomach and whispered “I’m sorry… I never should have left Wonderland… I let everybody in Wonderland down… I’m so sorry” the Mad Hatter choked on the tears he couldn’t cry. Alice continued “but it’s alright now… I’ll never leave you again… I will make up for my mistake… ok?” the Mad Hatter let the hand around his head drop as he gazed into Alice’s eyes and asked “You seem different from her other illusions… what did I do?”“Do?” Alice took a step away“Don’t play dumb… you’re only sent after me when I fail a mission…”“Is there a fake me? You can tell us on the way”“On the way?”“Yeah! You’re coming with us, right?”“You’re… real…?”“Huh? Yeah, of course!”“Alice…” the Mad Hatter pulled Alice into a warm hug as he spoke in a soft voice “oh Alice! I was told you were dead!” Alice hugged him back and said “I’m not dead! Who told you that?” the Mad Hatter looked away in shame as he muttered “Twisted Heart… even if she isn’t real… I won’t let you use her against me anymore” Alice pulled away asking “Hatter?” he shook his head saying “don’t worry about it. I should let the White Rabbit down now…” the Mad Hatter walked over to William, avoiding the kicks he threw, and pulled the knife out of his hands. “Aaaah!” William cried as he fell to his knees. When the Mad Hatter tuned his back William stood up and said “my name is William!” and then he attacked but was tossed to the ground like a rag doll. Alice asked “William, are you ok?” the Mad Hatter handed Alice an odd colored herb and said “sorry, I thought I had let him down gentler than that… here, take these and squeeze their nectar onto his injuries… that should help heal him” Alice did as she was told and saw the injuries heal right before her eyes.

“Wow! How did you know that would help?” the Mad Hatter laughed and said “I’ve been living here. I need to know this stuff” William staggered to his feet saying “and how do we know that you didn’t just trick Alice into poisoning me?” the Mad Hatter glanced over his shoulder with a wicked smile on his face as he said “if it were poison I would have said so and forced it down your throat…” he lifted the March Hare over his shoulder and said “well if you two are alright now… we should go…” William muttered “I hate that man…”

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Chester come to school and said,"Durn, I growed another head."Teacher said, "It's time you knowedThe word is 'grew' instead of 'growed.'"

Alice cried and said “that’s so sad…” the Mad Hatter chuckled and replied “that’s life. I’m used to it…” William spoke up with great concern as he said “used to it? No one should be used to that” the Mad Hatter chuckled once more and asked “ah, so you don’t hate me completely?” William looked away in shame. The Mad Hatter continued “here’s your stop, the end of the Dead Wood…” Alice asked “but… you said you were coming with us, didn’t you?”“Not yet… I’m not ready”“Hatter…”“Alice, will you take my bell?”“Why?”“Please? Just take it”“Of coarse…”“Of course…?” the Mad Hatter whispered “heh… not what I expected at all…” he let the March Hare off his shoulder gently against a tree and disappeared, dropping a playing card. Alice picked up the card and examined it. It was the Joker, which looked almost exactly like the Mad Hatter before he changed. Alice turned to William and asked “how did he do that?” William sighed and said “I don’t know and I don’t care… I’ll wake up the March Hare, and then we shall continue our journey…” Alice sighed “yeah… ok…”

When the March Hare finally woke up, he looked around and asked “where…?” William sighed “we’re at the end of the Dead Wood… I’m not sure which one carried you…” Alice starred in confusion at William as she asked “which… one?” William nodded and replied “yes, you see… the Mad Hatter has taken on three different personalities: Mad was the one who jumped from the tree top and pinned me to the tree, Hatter was the one who you were comforting, and Joker… no ones actually met Joker and lived to speak about it” Alice asked “and what do you make of this card? It looks just like Hatter before he changed…” William looked at the card and shook his head saying “I have no clue… perhaps its use will show it’s self later… we should hold on to it” Alice nodded and put the card in a pocket.

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Chester come to school and said,"Durn, I growed another head."Teacher said, "It's time you knowedThe word is 'grew' instead of 'growed.'"